The winner of the Department of English Essay Prize for 2021 is James Walton for his paper 鈥淢utilating the Western Corpus: The Postcolonial Deconstruction of C茅sairean Cannibalism鈥. James shows how Aim茅 C茅saire, a Martinican writer, adapts William Shakespeare鈥檚 The Tempest (1611) in order to deploy 鈥渢he language of colonialism 鈥s a weapon against its own racist rhetoric鈥. Specifically, James focusses on C茅saire鈥檚 ironic use of the colonialist trope of the savage cannibal in his play, Une Temp锚te (1969): C茅saire鈥檚 adaptation of Shakespeare is a form of artistic cannibalism that forces the audience to reexamine the assumptions that motivated colonialism in the first place. While Deconstruction often gets negative press, James demonstrates that this critical method can reveal the injustices ingrained in colonialist discourse that marginalizes–and even demonizes–those who are culturally 鈥淥ther鈥. Deconstruction can be a useful diagnostic tool, even though it ultimately does not provide a solution to the brokenness of human beings.
James also gets the nod in Second Place for his paper, 鈥淗auntological Messianicity in Marilynne Robinson鈥檚 Gilead鈥. Using the insights of John Caputo, James argues that spectral figures in Robinson鈥檚 novel represent a faith that believes in what it cannot (yet) see.
The English department would also like to recognize, by way of Honourable Mention, Renessa Visser for her essay 鈥淭he Postcolonial Power of Transcontinental Voices in The Translator鈥. Renessa shows how Leila Aboulela weaves the concept of translation into her novel about faith in the spaces between Sudan and Scotland, Islam and Protestant Christianity.